The turmoil in Oregon State University’s engineering school intensified Friday, as the university shocked faculty by replacing the engineering dean and dismissing the head of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program.

“The provost made a decision that it is important to restore the leadership stability within the College of Engineering and provide for a cohesive, functioning unit and provide for the momentum and direction the college has had for so many years,” said Steve Clark, Oregon State’s vice president for university relations. Clark said the university felt the situation was so serious that it couldn’t wait until the end of the school year to make a change.

OSU engineering timeline

1999: Oregon State hires Terri Fiez as professor and head of the electrical and computer engineering school.

July 2012: OSU hires a new dean of the engineering school, Sandra Woods.

April 2013: Woods notifies Fiez that she will not be retained when her contract expires in Aug. 2014. In an e-mail, Woods noted that Fiez been department head since 1999, and another five-year contract would extend that to 2019: “I believe that this is too long without a change in leadership.”

Sept. 12: Department faculty write to Woods to express “unhappiness” over decision to dismiss Fiez. Later that month, OSU extends Fiez’s term with the university through June.

Nov. 6: Provost Sabah Randhawa writes to OSU industry partners and says the decision on Fiez “will not be revisited. This matter is now closed, and we are moving forward.”

Feb. 14, 2014: Provost writes to OSU faculty, announces Woods has been replaced as dean and Fiez has been removed as head of the electrical engineering and computer science program.

The engineering and computer science program has been in crisis since September, when new Dean Sandra Woods fired Terri Fiez, head of the electrical engineering and computer science program. Fiez had run that program since 1999 and had built strong relationships at Intel, IBM and many other Oregon tech companies.

Bowing to faculty objections, Woods agreed to allow Fiez to stay on until the end of the school year instead of pushing her out at the end of September. Oregon State stood by Woods’ decision to replace Fiez, though it admitted that it should have done a better job explaining that decision.

Then, Friday, Provost Sabah Randhawa notified faculty that Woods will step down immediately. The school also declared that Fiez is no longer head of the engineering and computer science program, effective immediately. Both Woods and Fiez remain tenured professors.

“Sandy did her utmost and provided strong leadership,” Clark said, “but the matter of building a cohesive unit – that fell short of our expectations.”

Fiez said the provost notified her of her demotion this morning, without advance notice.

“I didn’t get an explanation,” she said. “I was told I was terminated, effective immediately, as head.”

Oregon State named Scott Ashford, formerly head of the school of Civil and Construction Engineering, the new dean of the engineering program. Clark said the university will name interim heads of the civil and electrical engineering programs, then likely conduct a national search for long-term replacements.

The controversy that began last fall, when Woods dismissed Fiez, has festered all winter, according to Eric Meslow, president of Tualatin fiber optics company Timbercon and chairman of the Engineering and Technology Industry Council, an education fund established by the Legislature but administered by the industry.

“I understand these are tough, internal decisions,” Meslow said, but “for industry and OSU to move forward, a change needed to occur.”

The new dean, Ashford, had been the other finalist for the job when Oregon State hired Woods in the summer of 2012, according to Clark. He said that when the university decided to replace Woods, Ashford was the logical selection.

Kartikeya Mayaram, an engineering and computer science progressor who had championed Fiez, said he was “shocked” by Friday’s news. The program has a job candidate coming in Monday, and he said the two unexpected ousters put a cloud over the school that make it less attractive to prospective faculty.

“It’ll make it very difficult to recruit people here given the situation,” Mayaram said.

Correction: A prior version of this article indicated that OSU had considered two candidates when it decided to replace Woods. Oregon State says that's not correct, and that Ashford -- as a prior finalist -- was the logical choice to succeed Woods.